


So Long to A Home

by QueenAng



Category: Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, M/M, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-21
Updated: 2020-03-21
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:15:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,839
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23250799
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenAng/pseuds/QueenAng
Summary: Everyone liked to think they knew the story of the fall of Vos.Starscream snuck out and fell in love with a brash gladiator who railed against the system Starscream saw as imprisoning him. True.Megatron entered Vos with his army and reduced the ancient city of the seekers to rubble as a grand gift to Starscream. False.
Relationships: Megatron/Soundwave (Transformers), Megatron/Starscream (Transformers)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 45





	So Long to A Home

Everyone liked to think they knew the story of the fall of Vos. They told it like some romantic tale among the Decepticons.

Starscream, the poor, overly-controlled prince of Vos, snuck out and fell in love with a brash gladiator who railed against the system Starscream saw as imprisoning him. True.

Starscream and his guard began to aid Megatron in his pursuit of caste justice. True.

Megatron entered Vos with his army and reduced the ancient city of the seekers to rubble as a grand gift to Starscream – the final destruction of the society that caged him. False.

“I told you not to touch Vos!” Starscream snarled. Soundwave, looming behind Megatron’s shoulder, shifted uneasily, unsure when he should move to contain the prince. “I asked one thing of you – to not destroy Vos. And what did you do?”

“Vos had to fall,” Megatron hissed back. “I can’t help that you don’t see it.”

“What I see is my city lying in ruins around me!” Starscream said. “This was my home! This was my _people’s_ home! How could you do this to us? To _me_?”

Megatron made a dismissive gesture, reclining back in his throne. “Stop your whining, Starscream.”

“Whining? _Whining_? My entire city is rubble. Everything I knew is _gone_. I told you not to do this one thing, one single thing, and you did it anyway, with no concern for me or my people. Our numbers have been decimated; our culture is up in smoke. But I am so sorry, my lord, if my _whining_ upsets you.”

Megatron rose from his throne, a towering presence, and Soundwave wisely took a step back. “You would be wise, Starscream, to mind your tone around me, after all I have done for you.”

Starscream made an outraged noise. “Done for me? _You destroyed my city_!”

It was the last word Starscream got in. Soundwave escorted the prince back to his suite while Megatron raged in the throne room. He nursed a wrenched wing, hanging low on his back.

At his door, Soundwave said, “Stay here.”

“Not an issue,” Starscream retorted. “I have nowhere else to go.”

And the door slammed in Soundwave’s face.

That evening, Starscream did not show up for evening rations. Soundwave saw Skywarp appear, grab two, and vanish once more, but he did not mention this to Megatron. The last thing he needed was two more targets to lash out at, Soundwave thought.

“Where is the little fiend anyway?” Megatron queried aloud.

Soundwave looked up. “Starscream is in his quarters.”

Megatron scowled. “Fine. If the devil wants to starve himself, he can!”

Starscream did not reappear at the morning rations. Skywarp did, once more, and warped out with two rations, but Soundwave again failed to mention this.

“He can’t hole up in his quarters forever,” Megatron said. Soundwave thought he sounded more like he was trying to convince himself than Soundwave. “He has to re-emerge at some point, right?”

Soundwave said nothing.

Starscream kept his distance for two cycles. When Skywarp didn’t appear one evening, Soundwave subspaced three cubes and took them to Starscream’s door after Megatron had retreated to sulk in his own quarters, lamenting the loss of his best bed-partner.

It wasn’t long before Megatron grew bored of waiting and invited Soundwave to his quarters in Starscream’s stead. Soundwave stealthily handed Rumble an extra cube of energon when Megatron was otherwise occupied.

“What’re we supposed to do with this, boss?” Frenzy asked.

“Take it to Starscream,” Soundwave said, and rose back up before Megatron could grow suspicious.

The night itself was uneventful, but when Soundwave awoke from recharge the next morning, he found that the berth was already empty. Megatron rarely rose before Soundwave; in fact, Soundwave made a point of getting out before Megatron awoke.

Soundwave found Megatron in his throne room, Rumble and Frenzy cowering at either side of him.

“Sorry, boss,” Rumble muttered, and Frenzy thwacked him over the back of the helm. They both froze at Soundwave’s glower.

“I expect Starscream to go behind my back,” Megatron growled. “Not you, Soundwave. I am disappointed. If the little seeker wants to starve himself in his quarters, he is to be allowed to. If he wants to sulk over our victories, he is welcome to. But you are _not_ to _encourage_ his behavior.”

“Starscream is upset,” Soundwave said.

“Starscream is always upset over something,” Megatron retorted.

“Megatron, perhaps, should seek to draw Starscream back out.”

Megatron cocked an optical ridge. “Don’t tell me you believe he was right in his tantrum.”

“Of course not, my lord,” Soundwave said. “But you could cut this one short if you attempt to make amends. Starscream feels you have pushed him aside.”

Megatron lounged back in his throne. “I can push Starscream aside whenever I please.”

“Starscream feels vindicated in his anger by you doing so,” Soundwave said. When this brought no reaction to Megatron, Soundwave added, “Other seekers will pick up on his anger. We cannot afford to lose our air force.”

Judging from Megatron’s deepening scowl, he was forced to admit Soundwave had a point.

Megatron sent scouts back out into the rubble of Vos to search through its ruins for any of its former marvels. Most were irreplaceable and hopelessly destroyed during the siege, but he managed to find a few pretty things he assumed would appeal to Starscream.

The night after his and Soundwave’s talk, he left a bejeweled crown outside of Starscream’s door alongside his ration. When he walked past in the morning on his way to the makeshift mess hall, he saw that both were gone. Smug, he entered the hall expecting to see Starscream lounging in his seat, trademark smirk on his face, but the throne remained empty.

Megatron left another prize at his door that night: a scepter from some religious sect in Vos. Megatron didn’t even know if Starscream was religious, but he knew that Starscream had a soft spot for anything Vosian. And anything shiny.

Once again, the morning saw him pacing the hall outside Starscream’s door and finding the ground where his prize had sat empty. Another hopeful entrance into the mess hall, and his smirk fell back into a scowl.

Another night, another gift, this time a set of polish that had been dug up from the remains of a shopping mall. Still no Starscream.

The next night, and Megatron left a hand-stitched cloak from the Vosian palace archives, what appeared to be some heirloom. Starscream kept to his seclusion.

“Perhaps,” Soundwave began, when Megatron paused in his ranting, “you should try talking to Starscream.”

And so Megatron found himself standing outside Starscream’s door on the fifth night, an energon ration in his servo. He knocked at the door and waited for an answer.

Slowly, the door opened to reveal Skywarp. His red optics went comically wide and he muttered, “Oh, no.” His attempt to slam the door shut again was halted by Megatron’s foot between the door and the frame, and it was quite easy to shove his weight against the door and throw Skywarp back.

Thundercracker sat up in the large berth, Starscream in his arms. At the sight of him, Starscream’s gaze narrowed and he threw himself from Thundercracker’s grasp.

“You!” Starscream hissed. “How dare you come in here?”

“This is my palace now,” Megatron retorted. “I can go where I please.”

“This is my room!” Starscream exclaimed. “And I don’t want you in here. Get out!”

He went to push Megatron, and Megatron grabbed his wrist and hauled him closer. Starscream glared up at him, his chin nearly touching Megatron’s chest. His servo, locked in Megatron’s grasp, curled into a fist. “What?” he said. “Going to destroy me now, like you destroyed my city?”

“I freed you.” Megatron tossed him aside, and Starscream managed to stay on his pedes.

“You trapped me with you,” Starscream hissed in reply, moving back towards Thundercracker.

“I have gifted you treasures any other mech would grovel to have the chance to even look at.” He grabbed Starscream above the cockpit. “You would do well to remember all that I have done for you.”

“I don’t want material belongings!” Starscream snarled. “I want my home back!”

Megatron saw the first few drops of optical fluid appear in Starscream’s gaze. Surprised, his weakened his grip on the seeker’s chest, and Starscream collapsed into a huddle at his pedes. Skywarp’s wings twitched like he wanted to race forward and collect his trine leader, but a wary look at Megatron kept him still.

“I hated the mechs around me,” Starscream said quietly. “I hated what they made me into. I hated the Tower mechs who acted like they could buy the right to my spark if they took enough fancy toward me, and the advisors who told me all I would be good for is carrying a better mech’s sparkling. But I never hated Vos. This was my home.”

Megatron took a step back, unsure of what to say. But then, what was there to say? The battle for Vos was over. The war had begun.

“You will be present at the morning rations tomorrow,” Megatron said, and stepped from the room.

The last thing he saw was Skywarp collecting Starscream in his arms.

To Megatron’s surprise, Starscream did appear at the next morning’s rationing.

The crown that Megatron had found sat upon his helm, and his wings were draped in the cloak pulled from the palace archives. He sauntered in with all the flair that Megatron had come to expect of his entrances. Rather than take a seat beside Megatron, he stepped up to the throne and draped himself across Megatron’s lap.

“My lord,” he murmured, nuzzling the base of Megatron’s helm.

“You look… striking this morning,” Megatron said, turning to capture his lips in a kiss.

Starscream kissed back willingly. Before Megatron could pull away, he murmured against his mouth, “You know what’s even more fun than putting all this junk on? Having someone take it off.”

Soundwave watched closely as Starscream rose from Megatron’s lap, the gladiator’s large servo in his, and began to lead their lord out of the mess hall.

Starscream had fully intended to miss this morning’s ration. Soundwave showed up at his door before he too would be considered late.

Thundercracker peered through the crack, then fully opened the door. “Oh. It’s just you.”

Soundwave stepped inside and crossed over to the berth where Starscream lay curled up with Skywarp. “Starscream. You need to get up.”

Starscream rose with a flourishing stretch. “Oh, is it that early already? I must have forgotten.”

“Megatron is expecting you.”

“I’m well aware. I suppose he wants an apology for the nights he had to spend in your company, no?”

Soundwave caught Starscream by the arm before he could get past. In a quieter voice, he said, “Megatron wants a fight. Do not give him one. You will lose.”

Starscream smiled up at him. “I don’t want a fight either, Soundwave. I just want the mech dead.”


End file.
